


Moments

by asarahworld



Category: Star Wars
Genre: Canon Divergence - Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, F/M, Gen, Movie: Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-07-09 21:07:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19894360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asarahworld/pseuds/asarahworld
Summary: Moments, when Anakin Skywalker felt the pull of the Dark Side.  And one when he felt the Light shine through.





	Moments

**Pre-hologram meeting “on” Kashyyyk.**

“Is it possible to learn this power?”

“Not from a Jedi.”

Anakin looked up to the Chancellor, his mentor, his friend. A non-Force-sensitive being who knew Sith legends.

“How?”

“How what?” Was it his imagination, or did the Chancellor’s tone sour when questioned? Anakin was well-versed in reading the tone of a person’s voice – the effects of slavery on a person never healed, not when one’s survival had once depended on certain skills.

“How do you know a Sith legend? None of the Jedi, not even Master Yoda, are versed in these matters.”

“Oh,” the Chancellor waved a hand, “you tend to pick up bits and pieces over the years. You see, Anakin, it’s not how I know the story that’s important, it’s the story itself that matters. It was only through understanding the Dark Side of the Force that Darth Plagueis was able to learn, and more importantly, use that power to save others… those he loved.”

“And yet his apprentice still killed him. Chancellor, excuse my bluntness, but why are you telling me this?” Obi-Wan had sensed something in the Chancellor, had warned the Council about it. Anakin’s stomach turned. His master was right. The Chancellor was up to something.

“Because I thought it was something you needed to hear, young Skywalker. There is more to the Force, and indeed, to life, than what the Jedi will tell you.”

Anakin was quiet, watching the ballet with feigned interest. It was a strange relationship, the friendship between a Jedi and the Chancellor of the Republic. Anakin knew there was some truth in Obi-Wan’s mistrust of the Nabooian politician that went beyond a general distaste of politics.

ROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTS

**Palpatine having just murdered Master Windu**

“What have I done?” Anakin stumbled back, collapsing onto a stool, watching in disbelief as the Chancellor, the Sith Lord, rose from the ledge.

“You’re fulfilling your destiny, Anakin.” The Chancellor advanced and Anakin bowed his head, trying to centre himself. “Become my apprentice. Learn to use the Dark Side of the Force.”

“No,” Anakin muttered, his resolve weakening as the Chancellor drew nearer.

“It can save her, as you failed to save your mother,” the Chancellor stopped mere feet away. “Senator Amidala.”

“You can save Padmé?” The words tumbled from Anakin’s mouth before he had the chance to think. “I can’t live without her.”

“If we work together, I know we can discover the secret,” the Chancellor said. Anakin’s hand twitched as if to draw his lightsabre. “Look at me, Anakin. Would you really pull your weapon on an injured man?” Anakin hesitated, then turned the laser sword on to the Chancellor’s throat. “Come now, Anakin.”

“No.” The lightsabre was not still. “You may be injured, but I have no doubt that you’re still dangerous. You will go before the Senate and revoke the emergency powers. Then there will be a hearing.”

“On what charge?” The Chancellor asked, his voice sickly.

“Corruption of the government. Murder. And if the Senate does not convict you, the Council will. Terribly flawed though they may be, the Jedi are still the keepers of peace in the galaxy.”

“Kill me, and your wife will die. Oh, yes, Anakin. I do know about your ‘secret’ marriage, on Naboo. You went to the Lake Country, a beautiful spot no doubt.”

Anakin’s minded was nearly blinded by an onslaught of memories of Padmé. “How do you know about Lake Country? There was only myself, Padmé, and two droids present.”

“As I have already told you, Anakin, the Dark Side of the Force can lead to many open doors. Join me.”

“You speak with great certainty with a lightsabre drawn on your throat,” Anakin’s voice was steady.

“Do it. Kill me and you will be forced to assume my place in the budding Empire. Let me live, and you will be the second most powerful man in the galaxy.”

ROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTS

“I hate you!”

Obi-Wan Kenobi stared down at the smoldering man below. “You’re my brother, Anakin. I love you.” Using the Force, Obi-Wan lifted Anakin from the molten rock. “I love you, and I have failed you, and for that I am more sorry than you will ever know.”

“You took her from me!”

“Padmé? Anakin, she was terrified of you. There are limits to whom even the Chosen One can save! She would rather die than have you like this!”

Obi-Wan’s phrasing drew Anakin from his rage. “She’s alive?” He rasped.

“Yes, of course, she’s alive,” Obi-Wan reached toward his brother.

“Help me,” Anakin rasped. “Help me save Padmé’s life. Senator Palpatine, he’s the Sith Lord. He said,” he hesitated briefly, “he said that he could save her.”

“Anakin, I know that the Jedi, that I have failed you in the past. I promise to do everything in my power to save Padmé. She is a dear friend and,” Obi-Wan paused, clearly debating whether to continue, “and she’s told me the truth.”

The truth. Anakin didn’t know what the truth meant any more.

“The truth is that you and Padmé are in love and have been for nearly your whole lives,” Obi-Wan said gently. “The truth is that you’re my brother and I have not supported you when you needed me. The truth is that Darth Sidious got into your head and manipulated you to suit his own needs. The truth is that you are Anakin Skywalker, and you are a good person.” Obi-Wan picked up Anakin’s fallen lightsabre and tucked it into his belt, before bending over his friend. “The truth is that I hope we can save you, Anakin.”

ROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTSROTS

When Anakin awoke, he was naked. His charred hand easily swept through the bacta, reaching desperately for his wife. Her name silently escaped his burned lips, air bubbles popping fiercely as they broke the tank’s surface.

Obi-Wan Kenobi lay a hand over the outside of the bacta tank. When Anakin Skywalker had returned, so had Padmé’s life force. She had grown stronger as her due date neared, and she had cried with relief when her babies had been born alive and well. Leia Amidala and Luke Skywalker were tiny and so quiet that Obi-Wan had been afraid if they didn’t lose Padmé and Anakin, they would lose the twins.

“Soon,” he quietly promised his brother.

Soon was relative. Anakin’s burns were severe and no one quite understood how the true Sith Lord had manipulated Padmé’s life force to support him. Padmé was on life support, improving every day, and Anakin spent more time in the bacta than out, healing his physical and emotional traumas. Obi-Wan spent his days and nights split into visiting each of the Skywalkers until, exhausted, he comm’ed for help.

It took two days for the Naberries to arrive from Naboo, five for the Larses to arrange passage and fly in from the Outer Rim. Ruwee and Jobal immediately busied themselves with caring for the twins, being the only people in the facility who had experience with children. (They immersed themselves in their youngest grandchildren, with Sola and her children arriving later).

With six family members present, no Skywalker was ever uncared for. Pooja and Ryoo Naberrie looked on in wonder as their grandfather rocked baby Leia to sleep. Beru Lars learned to perfect heating a baby’s bottle and was the only one who could get Luke to stop fussing long enough to eat. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Owen Lars took turns sitting up with Anakin, doing whatever they could to support their brother’s recovery, as Jobal and Sola Naberrie did with Padmé.

Eventually, Anakin Skywalker was released, emerging from the bacta tank a new man. His skin was badly scared, his hair patchy where it had been burned away, but he was healed enough that the med-droids released him.

“Padmé,” he gasped, his voice rough and scratchy from not having been used in so long. He stepped forward and stopped, raising his robe from the floor to see the metal prosthetic leg. Obi-Wan was at his side immediately.

“What do you remember?”

“The Chancellor…he’s the Sith Lord!” Anakin said, the urgency in his voice only heightened by his concern for his wife.

“The Jedi have seen to his removal from office. Anakin, what else do you remember?” There was a sense of urgency underlying his friend and mentor’s calm.

“Padmé,” Anakin repeated. “My dreams, they were like the ones about my mother,” his voice broke. “And the baby.”

“The children are healthy. Your families have been here, looking after them while you’ve been recovering.”

Children. He was a father. He realized that Obi-Wan was still speaking.

“…didn’t know. She named them. Luke and Leia Naberrie-Skywalker.” Anakin tried to lift his head, before realizing that of course they wouldn’t be waiting in the hospital room for him to wake up. Obi-Wan must have sensed his thoughts, for he moved to the door. A few minutes later, he re-entered the room with a woman he vaguely recognized as Padmé’s mother and a man he thought could have been Cliegg Lars’ son. Anakin only had eyes for the blanket in Missus Naberrie’s arms.

“Anakin, this is Luke Naberrie-Skywalker,” Jobal said softly. She brought his son closer, so close that Anakin could have reached out and touched him. But he hesitated. Luke was not the tiny newborn he had expected. This baby was a few months old at the very least, with a mess of blonde hair on his head. Jobal brought the blankets closer, and Anakin automatically took the baby. His baby. His son, little Luke Skywalker. Something registered in his mind.

“Twins?”

His stepbrother entered the room, carrying another bundle of blankets. “Leia Naberrie-Skywalker,” Owen laid the baby girl in Anakin’s free arm. An arm that was made entirely of metal, much like his left hand. That train of thought disappeared the moment that Leia’s large brown eyes looked into his own blue ones.

Tears were rolling down Anakin’s face when he finally looked away from his daughter. “Where is Padmé?”

“Recovering. When you nearly died, so did she. The two of you are linked, through the Force, Anakin.” Obi-Wan rested his hand on Anakin’s shoulder. “She is so strong. Her doctor believes she will wake within the next few hours.”

“I need to see her. I need to see Padmé,” Anakin stood, the twins still cradled in his arms. Obi-Wan, already at his side, steadied him.

“Of course,” Obi-Wan said quietly.

There was an odd processional heading down the corridor, if anyone had paid any attention. A medical droid followed by a man clutching two tiny babies (a man unused to what were obviously new prosthetic limbs). Another slightly older man hanging on to the new father, physically supporting him. His parents, and brother and sister. (A family).

Anakin collapsed at his wife’s bedside.

“Padmé,” he murmured, laying his children on the bed beside their mother.

Obi-Wan watched with intrigue. Against all odds, Padmé was beginning to stir. The Force worked in mysterious ways, that much he knew, but to witness it in this way was completely new to him.

“Anakin?” Though her voice was small and weak, there was no denying its power over the man kneeling at the woman’s side.

“Padmé.” Anakin’s head snapped up, his eyes feasting on the sight of his wife recovering. Padmé’s hand moved, nearly imperceptibly, until it was resting on her husband’s head, buried in his hair.

“The twins?” She breathed, feebly attempting to sit upright. Her children were on either side of her and Anakin gently guided her hands so that they were touching them.

The Naberrie-Skywalker family was healing. Together, as a family. Anakin and Padmé. Obi-Wan, and Ruwee and Jobal. Owen and Beru. Sola, Pooja, and Ryoo. And perhaps the most important connection, Anakin and Padmé, and their children.


End file.
